Public Health Groups Agree: Carve Tobacco Out of Trade

We seek your explicit commitment that the U.S. will not propose or agree to any provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that would undermine the domestic sovereign rights of participating countries to adopt or maintain measures to reduce tobacco use and to prevent the harm it causes to public health.

We call your attention to the compelling body of statements by major medical, public health, and public interest organizations in the United States, listed below, that consistently call on the U.S. to exercise leadership in the negotiations on the TPP to advance tobacco control measures that contribute to reducing the enormous burden of disease related to tobacco use, and prevent incursions by the tobacco industry against those measures.

We must remove tobacco control measures and tobacco products from trade agreements and assure that tobacco control measures will not be subject to challenge through the TPP and all future trade agreements. Malaysia, a TPP trading partner, has proposed carving out tobacco control measures, and tobacco products, from the agreement. This proposal, if accepted, would set a standard in trade law that would complement the global consensus on fighting the tobacco epidemic enshrined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which all TPP countries are signatories.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death, claiming over 6 million lives a year. Past trade agreements have provided opportunities for multinational tobacco corporations to make cigarettes cheaper, to launch massive marketing campaigns, and to challenge public health measures such as a U.S. ban on clove cigarettes, and plain packaging. The U.S. must lead the way towards policies that protect and improve the public’s health.

Sincerely,

Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD MPH, Joseph E. Brenner, MA Laurent Huber, MSFD

Co-Directors Executive DirectorCenter for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH) Action on Smoking and Health